Robert's early career was in printing and paper manufacturing before joining local government in 1982 with Bexley Council as Principal Contracts and Purchasing Officer.

More recently, he helped develop Bexley's policies in line with the National Procurement Strategy, before "retiring" in 2004.

On a professional level, Robert represented London on the SOPO National Executive Council for two years. Also active on CIPS, he became a member of the National Council in 1992. Over recent years Robert has provided consultancy services in procurement and project management and is currently working with LB Hammersmith & Fulham in delivering their 3 year Market Testing programme.

Profile to be confirmed...

Leon is Head of Olympic Business Opportunity at the London Development Agency (LDA), working within their Olympic Legacy Directorate. His role is to help London’s businesses maximise the economic benefits from London 2012.  He leads the team responsible for the design, development and implementation of the CompeteFor service, working closely with a range of key stakeholders, including the Olympic Delivery Authority, London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games, all UK development agencies, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Government Olympic Executive.  Leon has also developed and managed a number of key business and enterprise projects for the LDA.  Prior to joining the LDA, he led the London Borough of Newham’s Inward Investment and Business Development Team, focusing on supply chain initiatives.

Robert works as an independent consultant and spends much of his time facilitating links between government departments, local authorities and other agencies on the practical implications of major policy initiatives. He is an adviser for the Leadership Centre for Local Government and has supported leadership teams in a wide range of local authorities and LSPs.

Robert’s early working life involved a wide experience of public services, politics and public policy. Following a period working for the Audit Commission in the 1990s, Robert served as Tony Blair’s adviser on health and local government during Labour’s first term. In 2001 he was appointed as the Prime Minister’s political secretary. When Charles Clarke became Education Secretary in late 2002, Robert became his special adviser and worked on policy issues relating to children, schools, skills and higher education. Robert moved with Mr Clarke when he became Home Secretary and continued working for him until May 2005.

Stephen was a Civil Servant for 30 years, joining the Inland Revenue after graduating from Oxford in 1976. He trained as an Inspector of Taxes and gained wide-ranging experience of tax policy and operational management. In the mid-1990s, Stephen took the first of his four Director-level roles in the Inland Revenue. These covered charities, non-resident and specialist tax matters, the financial sector, large business work and finance. Stephen was appointed a Commissioner of HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) on the formation of the new department in April 2005, and was its first Finance Director. During this period he qualified as a Chartered Management Accountant. He left HMRC at the end of 2006 for his current role as Director of Finance and Performance for the Local Government Association (LGA).

Ian has worked in the public sector for more than 25 years. Throughout his career he has developed a reputation for innovation and thought-leadership through recognition by the then PM for delivering Excellence in Schools (through PFI); precipitating public sector change on shared services, competitive neutrality and commissioning strategy (as part of the CBI); and leading a team that won the LGC Green Initiatives award.

Most recently, he has launched his own consultancy, Gradus Consulting, which specialises in supporting the health, social care and local authority sectors in their delivery of commissioning.

John Marshall has been a civil servant for over 30 years. Since 1997 he has has been involved in policy development and practice around third sector issues. In that period, John helped establish the original Futurebuilders funding agreement with the Home Office; and was one of the founding team that set up Capacitybuilders - which invests in third sector infrastructure support. John is currently at the Office of the Third Sector responsible for implementing policy on 'Public Service Delivery and Commissioning the Third sector'.

Mike is a partner in Eversheds’ commercial contracts group and head of the firm-wide procurement group.

In addition, Mike is the local government champion for commercial work within Eversheds. He specialises in local government work, public procurement and PFI/PPP project work. Mike has handled a number of major transactions for both public and private sector clients.

Mike's recent experience includes acting for Greater Manchester Police Authority on the single biggest Home Office PFI scheme. He is currently advising both Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority and Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority on their Waste PFI schemes. The former has an anticipated contract value of £4.5bn and is the largest scheme of its type in Europe.

Prior to joining Eversheds, Mike had eleven years’ experience in local government, specialising in commercial and development issues.

Mike is a recommended individual in Legal 500 and is a regular contributor to trade journals such as Municipal Journal and Local Government Chronicle.

Bill is the Corporate Director of Resources for the London Borough of Barking & Dagenham – responsible for Finance, Legal & Democratic Services, Procurement, HR, IT, Strategy and Partnerships, Asset management and Capital Delivery. His previous position was as Director of Customer & Corporate services for the London Borough of Southwark, where he led on a major programme of service modernisation and ICT infrastructure development.

Before that Bill was Acting Director at the Improvement and Development Agency for Local Government. He was responsible for the full range of ‘paid for services’, such as leading the peer review programme, the consultancy service, performance support and a range of leadership programmes. He also took charge of modernising the internal business systems and processes for the directorate.

Bill is a post-graduate physicist and his background is principally in the field of organisational development, training and consultancy. He is a trained teacher, having worked as a further education lecturer (physics and adult access courses) before moving to the London Borough of Newham to head their training section. He led on much of the major cultural change programme, 'putting Newham on the map'.

Over the last five years Wendi has secured improvements in Children’s Services in Bedfordshire and Essex CC through employing a robust commissioning approach. Integrating planning and decision- making structures to drive service delivery, to provide efficient and effective services to children and families, including integrated service delivery. Wendi is Chair of the Eastern Region NHS & LA commissioning group, leading on developing the commissioning support programme through a regional champions group. She is the Winner of three national awards, including the Health and Social Care Excellence in Commissioning Award in 2008.